As an artist and photographer, Lena Konstantakou has always taken inspiration from ordinary things. “I love trees and the sea, so I’m lucky to live in Rafina,” she says. The beautiful port town is 16 miles (25km) east of Athens.
Konstantakou, who was raised in the capital, lived and worked in London for 11 years before moving back to Greece a decade ago. She remembers feeling profoundly uninspired on her return. “I was feeling lost and nostalgic for the big city, so I started photographing the surrounding woods in order to ground myself in my new environment.”
It was on one of these walks in 2011 that Konstantakou discovered this Phoenician juniper. “It’s at the bottom of a hidden path and so it’s rarely visited by tourists, but as soon I saw it it was love at first sight.” She estimates that the tree is five metres (17ft) tall and between 300 and 400 years old. “It looks like a beautiful 19th-century dress; I think it’s the way the branches elegantly drape down its back.”
While the juniper’s thick branches and imposing frame form part of its appeal, its significance to Konstantakou comes down to timing. “This tree helped me to reconnect with the natural world at a time when I was desperate for inspiration, and for that I will always be grateful,” she says.
“I call it ‘the magic tree’, because it has this mysterious, otherworldly quality. It’s a reminder that magic is everywhere. Whenever I see it, I feel proud to live in such a beautiful place.”
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